Turning up early for ferry

ronste

Guest
Booked on dfds ferry and probable be there in time for earlier one , will they let me on it .
Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this
Thanks
 
They will usually let you on either the ferry before or after if late any more than that and they will charge you a fee, usually £20 have a safe trip :wave:
 
ronste said:
Booked on dfds ferry and probable be there in time for earlier one , will they let me on it .
Just wondered if anyone had any experience of this
Thanks
Click to expand...

It can depend on the time of your ferry, but usually you can get on an earlier one. We have done it many times with the ferries and most times with the channel tunnel train.
Last month we arrived at the tunnel one day early, and it cost us £9.
 
Being skinflints, we have often booked a cheap ferry and then turned up earlier for a ferry that would have cost more. Only once have we been asked to pay extra money (which we didn't do - we waited for the next ferry). Every other time, they have just put us on the first available one. Mind you, being retired, we travel at non-peak times, so I don't know whether they would be so accommodating if they were busy.
 
Done it many times. If space on an earlier sailing, they let you go.
 
Thanks for that will give it a go and let you know how I get on .
 
Dfds wanted to charge me £74 to put me onto earlier ferry Dunkirk to Dover 2 weeks ago----I waited for my booked ferry
 
MY 2P...We had dfds Newhaven Dieppe (over 60 discount)booked for a wednesday night in July this year.I found I had more work leave to take so,phoned them to change the sailing to the Friday night before.They were very helpful and said there was no charge.I imagined a problem with this once we arrived for the sailing, cos it all seemed so easy on the phone, but I received a confirmation e mail, so its all kosher.Very pleased.
Brittany charged me £25 to cancel a booking last year.They sent me a voucher to be used in the next 2 years for the amount .I used it for the sailing this year, and paid the difference in cost,no probs.
Weve arrived early at eurotunnel, and they have been very accomodating for getting on earlier.Sometimes with a bike,or in our case a trike, they make you wait until last to board, but once again no probs.
Quick story...last year we went Eurostar on trike.Last on as usual, we had a great conversation and good laugh with the security people on the journey, explained we were going for 3 wks down to Spain.3 DAYS later we were coming back after breaking down(!!!) Saw the same guy, he asked how we got on with our hol, then realised it was only a few days before he had spoken to us!
 
Last edited:
Weve turned up early several times and always got on, sometimes we've been charged. Anyone tried turning up without a ticket and paying at the gate?
 
Mastodon said:
Weve turned up early several times and always got on, sometimes we've been charged. Anyone tried turning up without a ticket and paying at the gate?
Click to expand...

I have, but not often. You pay more then if you had booked.
 
We turned up for the chunnel on the bike about 12hours early and the next train was leaving in 5 mins, asked if we could get that, charged us a fiver, 40 mins later we were shooting down the road in France on to Abbyville.!

jt
 
Mastodon said:
Weve turned up early several times and always got on, sometimes we've been charged. Anyone tried turning up without a ticket and paying at the gate?
Click to expand...

Had to do that once in an emergency (Calais to Dover) and they fleece you. Paid something like £150, which was about four times as much as the pre-booked price!
 
John H said:
Had to do that once in an emergency (Calais to Dover) and they fleece you. Paid something like £150, which was about four times as much as the pre-booked price!
Click to expand...

They do, even if you book a few hours before it's cheaper.
 
We werent booked coming back from France last year, paid at booth.tried to charge me £240 for the trike as they said it was same as m/bike and sidecar! I argued the case,but even so we had to pay about £140 I think.we were desperate to get back , so paid it.As said in other posts, cheaper for online booking.
 
I usually book my tickets at the beginning of the year, used to use SeaFrance carnet system where you book a certain number of tickets which are valid for twelve months from the date of your first crossing, MyFerryLink use the same system, there is no fee for changing your crossings but there is no refund for unused crossings, all crossings have to be paid for at time of booking the tickets.

We turned up at Dunkirk early for our return crossing and were told there was a £75 fee payable so told them we'd stick to our original time, but were put on the earlier ferry anyway.
 
Update to original thread;
Just turned up at DFDS check in (22.50) they put me on the 00.30 sailing, despite being booked on 02.30. No fuss, no extra charge.
Au revoir.
Kath
p.s. Fridge still working great.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top